FILE PHOTO: Rafale fighter jet taxis on the tarmac during its induction ceremony at an air force station in Ambala, India, September 10, 2020. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one other military aircraft during clashes in May, India's air force chief said on Saturday, in the first such public claim by the country after its worst military conflict in decades with its neighbour.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif rejected the statement, saying India had not hit or destroyed a single Pakistani aircraft.
At an event in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, Indian Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh said most of the Pakistani aircraft were downed by India's Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system. He cited electronic tracking data as confirmation of the strikes.
"We have at least five fighters confirmed killed, and one large aircraft," he said, adding that the large aircraft, which could be a surveillance plane, was shot down at a distance of 300 km (186 miles).
"This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill," he said, prompting applause from the crowd that included serving air force officers, veterans, and government and industry officials.
Singh did not mention the type of fighter jets that were downed, but said that airstrikes also hit an additional surveillance plane and "a few F-16" fighters that were parked in hangars at two air bases in southeastern Pakistan.
In a post on X, Pakistan's defence minister accused India of dishonesty.
"If the truth is in question, let both sides open their aircraft inventories to independent verification - though we suspect this would lay bare the reality India seeks to obscure," he said.
"Such comical narratives, crafted for domestic political expediency, increase the grave risks of strategic miscalculation in a nuclearised environment."
Islamabad, whose air force primarily operates Chinese-made jets and U.S. F-16s, has previously denied that India downed any Pakistani aircraft during the May 7-10 fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
U.S. officials have told Reuters previously that they were not aware any U.S.-made F-16 planes inside Pakistan had been hit.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond for a request for comment on Saturday.
Pakistan has claimed that it shot down six Indian aircraft during the clashes, including a French-made Rafale fighter. India has acknowledged some losses but denied losing six aircraft.
France's air chief, General Jerome Bellanger, has previously said that he has seen evidence of the loss of three Indian fighters, including a Rafale. The Indian Air Force has not commented on the claims.
(Reporting by Shivam Patel; additional reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Idrees Ali in Washington; Writing by Mayank Bhardwaj. Editing by Himani Sarkar, Mark Potter and Barbara Lewis)
